The Federal Trade Commission announced today that it has settled with the University of Phoenix and its parent company, Apollo Education Group, for a record $191 million to resolve FTC charges that the school used deceptive advertisements that falsely touted their relationships and job opportunities with companies such as AT&T, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Twitter, and The […]
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by Paul Alan Levy In pursuit of his frivolous libel suit against Devin Nunes’ Cow and other defendants in Henrico County, Virginia, Congressman Devin Nunes has served subpoenas on Twitter, on a local political consultant, and on a Richmond law firm, demanding information that would provide the identity of the owner of the Devin Nunes’ Cow […]
By a vote of 417-3, the House of Representatives today passed a bill restricting robocalls. The TRACED Act would require phone companies to block robocalls without charging customers any extra money, require most carriers in the U.S. ensure that calls are coming from real numbers, and expand government authority to penalize robocallers. The Hill reports […]
The Department of Education stated in a court filing this week that it had pursued 29,000 more former Corinthian Colleges students for federal student loan payments than it had previously identified, despite a court order barring collection. As we noted in a post in October, a federal judge held Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in contempt […]
Consumer reporter Michelle Singletary has just written a column entitled Have you received one of those Social Security scam calls? There’s a new way to report it. He column explains the varied and widespread nature of these scams and that the "Social Security Administration and its Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recently announced a […]
In Slate, Georgetown Law students Harsimar Dhanoa and Jonathan Greengarden have written Misinformed YouTubers Are Undermining the Fight for Children’s Privacy Online.
Just in time for the nation's annual gift-buying orgy, U.S. PIRG has issued its 34th annual Trouble in Toyland report. It's a guide to help consumers avoid buying toys that contain lead, have small parts on which kids can choke, or are otherwise unsafe. PPIRG explains that "[o]ver the past 33 years, our annual reports […]
Journalist David Dayen (@ddayen) has written Tech Companies' Big Reveal: Hardly Anyone Files Arbitration Claims. "Responding to Congress," Dayen explains, those companies have "make clear that forced arbitration gives them the means to sidestep the law." Here's an excerpt: Some new statistics from the nation’s leading tech firms on arbitration serve as evidence for an […]
In mid December, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency will propose new regulations, substantially revising its rules under the Community Reinvestment Act. The 1977 Act is aimed at combating redlining, or racial bias in lending, requires banks to meet the needs of local communities where their branches are based, including low- and moderate-income […]
Texas enacted a law in 2019 to protect people in state-regulated health plans from surprise medical billing — that is, outrageous bills for out-of-network care. The law, which goes into effect in January, creates an arbitration process for insurers and providers to negotiate so that fair prices are charged without involving patients. Rules implementing the […]